The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-09-08
RAILWAY SIGNALS.
AN OLD CONDUCTORS ON A sUBJECI
INTERESTING TO TRAVELLERS.


II shall feel easier now since thai
Chatsworth wreck" said an old con.
ductor who has run on fast Chicago
express for more than q dozen years, tc
the writer. two days after that awful
disaster which sent . thrill Of horror
through every heart. "There il Q good
deal Of nonsense" he continued, written
about the superstitions Of railroaders
but It is fact, nevertheless, that the
cycle theory is pretty well developed
among Us, and I have been waiting fol
the completion Of the circle of disasters.
1t has come now. Why, for month past
my nerves have been on such Q strain
that it's a wonder I have not had an &C.
cident from overcautiousness. And ]
have noticed that my passengers have
shared the nervousness. For three or
four weeks, every day has had it's rail-
way casualty, and now we have had the
climax. During the last few days havs
observed that every one seemed to have
premonition of calamity, and at every
watering-tank or coaling-tipple where
my train has stopped scores of heads
would be thrust from the windows and
100 questions fred at the crew by persons
who thought we were over-stopping our
time. s
"Signals on railway seem to have q
mysterious interest for everybody. It
has always been the case in my expert.
ence that people wanted to know the
meaning of every toot of the whistle,
every pull on the cord, every swing of
the lantern. believe it would save the
exhaustion of q good deal of nervous
force on the part of the travelling public
If railroad managers would publish the
simpler rules and signals adopted for the
running of trains. Now, at irrcgu.
lar intervals we have issued to
Us time tables, which, in addition to q
mass Of technical instructions, contain q
number of rules which are the result Of
the best experience, and are to us what
the orders of commander are to his
army. Some of these rules contain Just
the points that are so mystifying to the
general travelling public, and I cannot
see what possible harm there would be
in making them known through the
press. Yet, the boldest line at the head
of our Manual of Orders distinctly de-
clares-
"'FoR THE GOVERNMENT AND INFoRMA.
TION OF EMPLOYEES ONLY, AND NOT IN
TENDED FOR THE INFORMATION OF THE
PUBLIC
IF some of the rules could be pub
lished it would save us an avalanche of
questions; the traveller would have
better opinion of the courtesy of train
crews generally, and the timid ones
would have many an anxious fear dis
PEELED and at the same time the natural
curiosity of man-and woman, too
would be satisfied.
Besides all this, people would see the
precautions taken for their safety and
appreciate the fact that the sickest man
In wreck (even though unhurt) is the
ratlroader. There Is one more vital con-
sideration-if a passenger knew the
rules he could tell when one was vio-
lated. Perhaps that is the reason for
secrecy"
"Will you let me see the portion of
Orders to which you refer?"
saw it.'
The circular contains 122 regular
rules and seventy-six special rules, and
occupies more space than an entire page
OF this paper. A synopsis of those Of
interest to every reader is here given:
Red signifies danger, and is signal to stop.
Green signifies caution, and is signal to
60 slowly.
White signifies safety, and is signal to go
on.
Green and white is day signal to be used
TO stop trains at flag stations A red signal
will be used for this purpose at night.
Blue is signal to be used by carfnspectors.
:, An explosive cap or torpedo clamped to
the top Of the rail is signal, to be used in
addition to the regular signals, when from
fog or other cause the regular signals cannot
be clearly seen or relied upon. The ex-
plosion of one cap is q signal to stop imme-
diately; the explosion Of two cars is sig
nal to reduce speed Immediately and look
out for danger signal
:. A fuse is an extra danger signal, to be
lighted and placed on the track at night in |
case OF accident or emergency. A train
hnding fuse burning on the track must
come to stop and not proceed until It u
A fisg or lamp swung across the track, q
hat or any object waved violently by any
person on the track. signifies danger, and is :
'ignal TO stop.
TRAIN sIoNALs
Each train while running must display
Two green flags by day and two green lights |